Computational Prediction on Mammalian and Viral MicroRNAs - a Review

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA gene products of 19-25 nt long, which can repress the translation of their target mRNAs. Mammalian and viral miRNAs have identified diversified biological roles including developmental timing and left/right asymmetry of chemoreceptor expression in nematodes, programmed cell death in Drosophila, hematopoietic differentiation in mammals, apoptosis and metabolism in insects, cellular proliferation and immune response inhibition in viruses. Over the past 2 years, researches on the roles of miRNAs in cancers have been increasing, suggesting that miRNA is a valuable potential therapeutic target in human diseases. Here we review the currently available computational approaches for the prediction of mammalian and viral miRNA. Some popular miRNA online resources of the miRNA computational prediction approaches are introduced and discussed.